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The Big Story: Frittered opportunities

Can pakodas, Hindi for deep-fried fritters, help India, the world’s seventh-largest economy, dig itself out of a hole? The prime minister certainly thinks so. On January 26, Narendra Modi argued that contrary to the data, India was doing fine when it came to generating employment. He pointed to a pakoda seller, whose livelihoods fall outside the columns of official employment statistics. “The truth is,” said Modi, “massive number of people are being employed”.

To argue that already-existing informal jobs are an example of employment creation was a logical stretch. Yet, when this was pointed out, the Bharatiya Janata Party hid behind rhetoric: everyone questioning the lack of jobs growth was somehow insulting pakodawalahs. This strategy was repeated in the Rajya Sabha on Monday as the BJP president Amit Shah took up the pakoda point in his maiden parliamentary speech. “Selling pakodas is not something to be ashamed of,” said Shah. “Someone who sells pakodas today, his progeny can become entrepreneurs tomorrow. Today a son of chaiwala is the PM of this nation. You cannot compare the self-employed with beggars.”

The point about dignity of labour is well taken. However, India’s ruling party is intentionally avoiding the issue of lack of job growth. The BJP seems to be getting caught up in a semantic game over pakodas even as India fritters away its economic dividend.

The BJP’s attempt to steer the conversation away from cold statistics to political rhetoric around pakodas is understandable given that the numbers do not look good. In the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Modi had promised he would create one crore jobs. Yet, the unemployment rate has actually seen a slight increase since the BJP took office. Between April and December 2016, a nine-month period, 2.3 lakh jobs were created across eight key sectors.

Not only is this far short of Narendra Modi’s jobs promise, it falls alarming short of the number of new job seekers: after all, 10 lakh Indians enter the job market every month. If the present is bad, the future looks worse. India is unable to train its people and millions of people entering its workforce every year are not employable. In 2017, the Modi government abandoned its plan to train 500 million people by 2022. Before this, the Union government had regularly missed its skill-training targets.

To make matters worse, private investment continues to decline. Without creating new capacity, industry wwill be unable to create new jobs. Add to this the cherry on the cake: shock measures like demonetisation and the new Goods and Services Tax, which further hit businesses even as they were already limping.

Clearly then, the situation is dire and the BJP needs to recognise the gravity of the crisis and work to fix it, rather than deflect attention using pakoda rhetoric.

The Big Scroll

No dividend here: The slowdown in jobs shows that India is headed for demographic disaster, writes Devangshu Datta.

India’s engineering graduates have loans to pay but no jobs – so who is clearing their debt, asks Shreya Roy Chowdhury.

Demonetisation and GST led to massive job and revenue losses, reports Mayank Jain.

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The return of Rio: In Nagaland, a three-time chief minister makes a political gamble, reports Ipsita Chakravarty.

This means Nagaland has an Opposition again. Since 2015, all 60 legislators of the Assembly had sat on the treasury benches, after eight Congressmen joined the government. The BJP was already part of the ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland, headed by the Naga People’s Front. So, Nagaland became a political curiosity – an Opposition-less state where both the Congress and BJP were part of the same government.

But on Friday, the BJP parted ways with the Naga People’s Front, reportedly because the two parties could not agree on a seat-sharing formula. It brought to an end a partnership that had held through 15 years in government and several political upsets.

The national emblem of India; an open parachute and crossed lances – this triad of symbols representing the nation, excellence in training and valor respectively are held together by an elite title in the Indian army – The President’s Bodyguard (PBG).

The PBG badge is worn by one of the oldest cavalry units in the India army. In 1773, Governor Warren Hastings, former Governor General of India, handpicked 50 troopers. Before independence, this unit was referred to by many titles including Troops of Horse Guards and Governor General’s Body Guards (GGBG). In 1950, the unit was named The President’s Bodyguard and can be seen embroidered in the curved maroon shoulder titles on their current uniforms.

The President’s Bodyguard’s uniform adorns itself with proud colours and symbols of its 245 year-old-legacy. Dating back to 1980, the ceremonial uniform consists of a bright red long coat with gold girdles and white breeches, a blue and gold ceremonial turban with a distinctive fan and Napoleon Boots with spurs. Each member of the mounted unit carries a special 3-meter-long bamboo cavalry lance, decorated by a red and white pennant. A sheathed cavalry sabre is carried in in the side of the saddle of each trooper.

While common perception is that the PBG mainly have ceremonial duties such as that of being the President’s escort during Republic Day parade, the fact is that the members of the PBG are highly trained. Handpicked by the President’s Secretariat from mainstream armored regiments, the unit assigns a task force regularly for Siachen and UN peace keeping operations. Moreover, the cavalry members are trained combat parachutists – thus decorating the PBG uniform with a scarlet Para Wings badge that signifies that these troopers are a part of the airborne battalion of the India Army.

Since their foundation, the President’s Guard has won many battle honors. In 1811, they won their first battle honor ‘Java’. In 1824, they sailed over Kalla Pani for the first Burmese War and earned the second battle honour ‘Ava’. The battle of Maharajapore in 1843 won them their third battle honor. Consequently, the PBG fought in the main battles of the First Sikh War and earned four battle honours. Post-independence, the PBG served the country in the 1962 Indo-China war and the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

The PBG, one of the senior most regiments of the Indian Army, is a unique unit. While the uniform is befitting of its traditional and ceremonial role, the badges that augment those threads, tell the story of its impressive history and victories.

How have they managed to maintain their customs for more than 2 centuries? A National Geographic exclusive captures the PBG’s untold story. The documentary series showcases the discipline that goes into making the ceremonial protectors of the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces.

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The National Geographic exclusive is a landmark in television and is being celebrated by the #untoldstory contest. The contest will give 5 lucky winners an exclusive pass to the pre-screening of the documentary with the Hon’ble President of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. You can also nominate someone you think deserves to be a part of the screening. Follow #UntoldStory on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to participate.

This article was produced by Scroll marketing team on behalf of National Geographic and not by the Scroll editorial team.